


Calming Lightning

by reiaheadofyou



Category: God of War (Video Games)
Genre: Beekeeping, Calliope lives AU, Major character death - Freeform, Teenagers, Tragedy/Comedy, Zeus' bloodline runs deep, brief teenage years, dad of war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27616568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reiaheadofyou/pseuds/reiaheadofyou
Summary: Calliope, eldest child of Kratos and older sister to the mischievous Atreus has always longed for their family life to stay calm as the morning air. But with Atreus' reoccurring dreams of death and thunder, she knows her life of training with her brother, growing flowers and pining for the enigmatic Bragi won't last forever.This be the tale of a fallen pantheon's lineage living through a different type of thunder god, and how Thor doesn't take kindly to sharing this role.
Relationships: Atreus & Calliope (God of War), Calliope/Bragi, Faye/Kratos (God of War)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	1. This is my sister (this is my brother) -We are siblings and we care for eachother-

**Author's Note:**

> Wheeew! Is this a continuation of Byleist? yeee  
> Will this be a continuation of sorts? Maybe  
> Still dipping my toes into this idea, so leave a comment and lmk what you guys wanna see!

Father had returned from the trip earlier than Calliope had expected. The rain and thunder had begun their bothersome dance, and she was stretching some deer hide on the wall of their home on a wooden rack to dry. She turned to smile at him hoping to see her brother trailing behind him. 

But no Atreus. 

“Father?” She hops off of the stool she was standing on and approaches him, not wanting to assume the worst, and he does not meet her eyes.

“Your brother has fallen ill again.” He closes his eyes, and she catches a glimpse of a severed head on his belt. But that wasn’t what had her blocking him from the entrance of the door.

“Where- Where is he?! I need to be there to take care of him! Why didn’t you let me go with you!” She shakes him frantically and begins looking around, as if he’d be hiding somewhere.Her father takes her wrists in his hand, and she takes a deep breath. 

“He is safe. I need to go fetch something in the realm of the dead.” Calliope stiffens and crosses her arms with realization of how serious it was. She didn’t want to imagine anything ever happening to Atreus, but..these things were bound to happen.

“I was hoping they didn’t have one of those around here.” She says, sitting on her cot. 

“Young lady. Fetch me the blades.” 

* * *

“Don’t hold back! You must genuinely try to kill me!” Calliope’s voice booms, holding her battle axe in front of her while her brother panted heavily. Their father stood a distance between them, overseeing their training.

Approximately two years had passed, and despite still being lanky in stature, 14 year old Atreus had withstood his father’s gritty training regimen and built some muscle, which would be more visible if not for the vest and pelts his sister insisted he wear. Calliope was grown now, and after the trip to Helheim she insisted to escort her father with, he’d caught a small glimpse of a bright red light on her as she cleaved Hresvelgr in the name of her brother. Kratos reluctantly had to accept his daughter’s immeasurable strength, and the power that held. 

Two dark brown braids lay over a fur collar and tan leathered set of pants, boots and coat along with very strong pauldrons made by the dwarves to “support the weight of the world on her shoulders.” She looked so much like her mother, with warm caramel skin that had since paled from the lack of sun, this time, riddled with determination and the battlescars to prove herself worthy of the title of demigod. 

Atreus lunges at her with daggers, and she attempts to slice him from above, only to be taken down by the weight of her battleaxe and Atreus going for her legs, then sitting ontop of her with his dagger raised with a smile. 

“Not bad this time.” His sister says pushing him off of her with a thud, standing and brushing the snow and dirt off of herself. 

“I think approximately five minutes.” Kratos nods, with arms crossed with a small smile. He motions his children to the cooked spiced lamb and they enjoy their break in the warmth of their cabin. 

“This is really good.” His son remarked at his fathers cooking skills. “I don’t recognize this dish that well. Did you get the lamb from the market?” He turns to his sister who nods. 

A few miles from their home was a village with a bustling market with impossible prices that no ordinary human could afford. But their family were no ordinary family, and were able to procure some good things after doing some labors of heavy lifting and keeping trolls at bay. 

The locals often had trouble pronouncing their Greek names, so Kratos often insisted at using their Jotunn names to ease their tongue. In Calliope’s opinion, she found Byleist way more impossible to pronounce, but liked the way Faye would write it. 

“I wanted to make Kleftiko. Or at least something close to it. I also got some seeds we could plant in the spring for carrots and...flowers.” She shrugs. “Didn’t you spend this week’s Market Money on some fancy arrows?” His father raises his brow, the leg of lamb tiny in his hand. 

“Boy. There are better quality arrows from the brothers.” He scolds and Atreus sighs. 

“I only got it cause I maaybe convinced the seller it was worth maybe..I dunno...free?” 

His sister scowls and points an accusatory finger at her. 

“I swear to your mother if you’re using your powers to trick people!-” 

“Hey! I’m not doing  _ anything. _ ” He fumbles with the bones of his food. “Speaking of not doing anything can you tell me about why you keep talking to that one cheesy poet in the music shop. What’s his name? Bragi-” She slapped him and they bickered as siblings do, and Kratos could only close his eyes and wish Mimir was here so he didn’t have to witness this alone. 

“Callie likes a boy! Callie likes a boooy!” His son teased and dodged her, throwing random things in the house as she turned bright red in embarrassment. 

**_“1…”_ ** Kratos began to count, and Calliope became alert. Atreus began making faces at her and she told him to shut up and sit back down. 

**_“2...Young lady, clean the things you’ve tossed all over the house.”_ ** Her father commanded, in his deep and terrifying voice with his eyes still closed. She frantically began putting things back. Atreus ran back to where he was sitting earlier, not wanting him to get to three. 

  
**“3.”** Their father opened his eyes, looked around to see things back to normal, and his two teenagers were not looking at each other. 

Kratos huffed and stroked his beard with amusement, then turned to face his somewhat grown son, who barely grew a trace of facial hair yet.

“Boy. Stop pestering your sister.” Atreus nodded in understanding with a quiet “yes father.” 

Then he turned to Calliope, who was nervously redoing her braids. 

“Young lady. You’re almost an adult.” He stated as a matter of fact. 

“I know…” 

“Is he courting you?”   
“What?- Father!” Calliope shook her head. “I just..I just like his singing.” 

“And his  _ ‘beautiful locks the color of honeey’ _ like why are all your diary entries about him bee metaphors-”

“YOU READ MY DIARY?!” She screeched and Kratos demanded she go take a walk outside, where the sounds of her chopping a tree aggressively were heard. Atreus shrugs meekly and Kratos puts his hand on his son’s head while the grunts of an angry teenager rang through the valley. 

“Be glad you aren’t one of the trees.” 


	2. Shopping Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Atreus and Calliope head to the village to buy books for their magical studies, and Calliope pays a small visit to the enigmatic music shop keeper, Bragi.

It was up to Atreus and his sister to figure out their magic abilities on their own. It was a good thing that Atreus made an effort to procure old tomes and such from a  _ seiðkonur  _ in the village who could no longer read them as she had gone blind. It took an hour or so to get home by foot, so they decided to linger in the town before being promised a ride by Arvid, a man who loved being drunk as much as he loved horses. Atreus had bought the man some good ale for a ride back home, and Arvid was more than happy to oblige. 

Built on a steep hill was a charming music shop, where Calliope had snuck off to. It was warmer inside, with bone flutes arranged carefully in one table and amongst the many other string instruments, a Tagelharpa with white horsehair string, and a Viking’s lyre. 

“You know I do enjoy seeing you, but I’d appreciate it if you’d buy something.” Calliope froze at a smooth and calm familiar voice from behind her. Tall, with pale skin and the most kind blue eyes with his blonde beard braided at the bottom clad in warm robes fit for a rich man.

“Bragi...I-I…” She stammered, and he smiled at her, leaning on the handrail of his stairs. She punched him playfully on the arm, which made him wince. 

“Do not sneak up on me ever again! I could’ve killed you!” She crosses her strong arms wrapped in bandages. Bragi shakes his head, and takes a seat near the fireplace, grabbing his lyre and tuning it carefully. 

“I don’t doubt that, Byleist. You’re quite strong.” He smiles and something in her waits for him to say, _for a girl_ but she thankfully waits for nothing. She sits across from him on a rocking chair belonging to his mother, whom he alleges lives “quite far from here.” 

“I’d be happy to buy a lyre off of you someday.” She says fondly, twirling the ends of her braids. Bragi smiles kindly and strums some notes and looks to Calliope with a hopeful twinkle in his eye.

“Will you grace me with another demonstration? Your style of playing is beautiful.” He pleads to her. She hesitates, and looks to the instrument as if it’s her homeland itself, and reaches out until-

“Sister! Jeez I knew I’d find you here.” Atreus barged in with a bag full of books behind his shoulder, and Calliope quickly withdrew her hands. Atreus rolled his eyes upon seeing the shop owner, and she quickly stood up to approach her brother. 

“Hello Loki.” Bragi greets him, and Calliope fails to see the smugness behind his grin.

“Bragi. I see nobody bought anything in your store yet.” Her brother remarks, standing up straight at a taller than average height for his age. Something between the two never had them like each other. 

“Oh I just keep a good stock since I get so many customers.” 

“Don’t see anyone else but us.” 

  
“F-Forgive my brother. This was..just supposed to be a quick trip.” She said, stepping in between them and blushing profusely. “Thank you for talking to me.” 

“Thank you for coming.” He says back. Almost immediately on the way to Arvid patiently with his wagon, they each took a seat next to some barrels of what was likely more ale to bring to a larger village. 

“I can’t see what’s so cool about that guy. Plus what happened to looking at books on animal magic?” Atreus frowned, looking at his sister. She looked down apologetically. 

“I’m sorry Atreus. I’ll look at the books you brought with you when we get home.” She puts her hand over her heart, and the other in salute as promise. He doesn’t respond and for half of the journey it’s only the sound of horse hooves and the drunk singing of the horsemaster as the road becomes more and more familiar, eventually leading home.    


* * *

  
“This is the stop.” The drunk old man says, parked a few feet from their cabin. Atreus hands him a few coins and hops off with their cargo, and helps his sister down, and watches the man and his horse and wagon disappear into the cold evening. 

“Father won’t like that we’re home late.” Calliope says stretching her arms from their cramped ride. 

“Then  _ maybe _ you shouldn’t have gone to see your boyfriend!” Atreus sneers opening the door. 

“H-he’s not my boyfriend!” 

The house is warm, but their father is nowhere to be seen. This is normal, as he’s usually out for his own “version of training” and would return in the early morning. 

  
They sit side by side on father’s cot since it has more space, and open the first book; dusty and bound in red leather and tarnished metals, it tells about communication with animals, its link to Jotunn magic ( “Hey! I can kinda do that.” “You should study more into it then.”), and which animals were more easy to communicate with. 

“According to this text, you may be able to speak to wolves.” Calliope points to a block of runes next to a crudely drawn face of a wolf. “Not quite sure what wolves talk about though.”    
“Private af- _ furs _ .” Atreus slaps his knee. Calliope’s face scrunches and she pushes his head in response. 

“Make another joke like that and I’ll feed you to the wolves.” She shakes her head. Besides reading upon talking to horses, snakes and even ravens, they read of the author’s experiences speaking to said animals, and learn that many of them could be consolable with food and and listening. 

“That’s just like making human friends.” Atreus shrugs, and grabs another book.

This one he thought his sister would like, and it was on potions and recipes ranging from salves and potions to bombs, poisons and how to trap bees in jars. The author seemed to be a follower of Freya, (Atreus’ face saddened a bit when he saw her illustrated in one of the pages) and in one corner were recipes for love potions and other things that had his sister shut the book immediately. 

“You’ll know when you’re older.” She said. 

“Hmph…” Atreus frowned. 

“The first book’s sequel talks about turning into animals, but I think I’ve done enough reading for one night.” Atreus yawns and steps to his own cot.   
“I think I might start a bee hive. It’ll be good to get honey. And I might be able to make those bees in a jar.” She shrugs, going on her own bed, which had been separated by a small curtain as she was now a young maiden, and not a little girl. 

“Goodnight.” Her brother said tucking himself in.   
“Mmm.” She grunted in reply and soon fell into a deep sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in Norse mythology, Bragi is their God of Music and in Greek, Calliope is the muse of epic poetry and eloquence who was their leader and had the prettiest voice. Although it might be Calliope in the myths isn't the same as the one in game, it could be! Who knows!


	3. Growing Pains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calliope asks her father if she can travel on her own for the first time, and he makes an amusing (if not surprising) proposition.

“Mother said that when I become a man, I’ll get tattoos. I mean, I’m basically there right?” Atreus said while accompanying his sister to set the traps up again and maybe even find something to hunt. 

“You haven’t even grown a beard, baby brother. I’m sure the Greek in you will kick in once your voice completely drops.” Calliope snorts and hums a tune while finding some gooseberries she’d use for hair dye and a snack later. 

Father had finally come home exhausted and passed out on his bed. Even though the jerky they’d acquired would likely be enough for him, it was Atreus’ idea to make him a fresh hot meal with whatever they could find. She’d been doing a lot more cooking since Atreus’ growth spurt and he basically ate for two people. 

  


“I haven’t even gotten any tattoos yet. I think Thraceans got them when they married but I could be wrong.” 

  


“Where’s Thrace again?   
  
“Much much north from Sparta.”

  


It was Calliope that Atreus turned to for specificity of the “old land” since Kratos’ memories in Greece weren’t so pretty. At least for Calliope, she’d retained some of her old bond with home. 

Their outing was short and sweet. Atreus found a rabbit that was fat enough to probably feed them for one meal and Calliope had collected berries that overflew her trusty basket. She popped one into her mouth while they took the path home, and by then the weather had warmed significantly, and Atreus’ coat was tied around his waist while he fanned his cotton shirt in the late summer heat. 

  


Kratos lay in bed and would likely be mistaken for a corpse if not for his snoring. He was greying in his beard. He looked the same more or less, but he wasn’t young anymore. His ashy skin had wrinkles where his frowns often shaped without him knowing, and he’d changed into a different set of leather armor. To Calliope’s luck, it was Atreus’ turn to do the laundry this week. 

While she cooked she softly sang to herself a melody from her childhood. Sparta was a militaristic city state, but also full of beauty and art as much as the others. The same age she learned to wrestle and fight in school was the same age she learned how to read, write and play the lyre, and her talent of song for a little 10 year old was enough to bring tears to her father’s eyes when he came home from his time in the military. 

“ _ Pallas Athena thea, _

_ Mathe mastos kai stenous _

_ Se par he me is iman _

_ Hie rus sou sai soi deine..”  _

She sang softly and sweetly. Those words were memorized by heart. A hymn to the goddess her father once trusted. A hymn to an aunt who broke their already fractured family. She wondered if her father, lying in bed deep in sleep, would mind her singing such a song of praise. On his bed reading an index about wolves upside down, Atreus caught himself closing his eyes and enjoying his sister’s sweet melody. The food was warm and would still be when father would wake up, and she cleaned up her cooking space while singing, memories of the old land and the warmth of her mother’s embrace flooded her mind.

  


“ _ Hie rus sou sai soi deine _

_ Akoue. Akoue.”  _

She took off her fur trimmed boots and sat on her bed, carried away in song and undoing one braid, and letting long locks of wavy dark brown fall to her belly. She took great pride in her hair, and she fondly remembers both of her mother’s styling her hair...in tightly pinned buns decorated with pearls and ribbon...and in loose, yet practical braids that she could hide things in. 

  


To the state, she was to be a strong young lady who could bear even stronger children and continue the bloodline of Sparta’s great legion yet...She had the misfortune of being plaguestricken. A fate meaning death, for no weakness could be spared in Sparta..

  


But not even death could stop her, as her father’s love had saved her from the underworld, and hiding, often right behind him, young Calliope had appeared next to her broken father in a land unknown, and by luck were taken in by a feisty and friendly freckled woman with fiery red hair who her father was often taken aback and off guard by. It didn’t take long for Calliope to encourage her father to pursue his crush (which he vehemently denied, even through their wedding!) and the rest is history…

  


“You should sing more.” Her brother said out of the blue. Father was beginning to awake by now, and Calliope patted his shoulder gently and pointed to the food. He grunted in reply and stretched with his arms spread wide so that you could see all his muscles flex, and the sound of the man popping his bones made her shudder. He ate straight from the pot. 

  


“Father, I was hoping to acquire more beekeeping supplies in the Kaupang in Skiringssal..” She said, standing up and shifting her feet awkwardly. He raised a brow and continued to listen as he ate. 

“The gardener, Lady Hilda who sells flowers..She told me I could learn more there.” 

  


There was a pause that seemed like ages. 

“I don’t see why not.” He says. “You’re almost a woman. But I suppose it wouldn’t be too much to bring your brother with you.” 

  


“What? No, I wanted to go on my own!” Calliope looked at her brother who shrugged in indifference. Kratos looked at his children and then he sat up with a serious expression.

  


“That...Brodi lad you fancy,” Kratos began.

“It’s  _ Bragi.”  _ Atreus teased with a cheeky smile. 

“Whatever. That  **_lad_ ** you find so fascinating. Take him with you.”

  


At the same time both his children exclaimed in surprise, and to Atreus more or less horror. “What?!”

“Yes. If he survives that long trek to Kaupang and back, he has my blessing.”    
  


Atreus stood up on his bed glaring at his father like he’d muttered a curse. “Yeah right! He doesn’t even know she liiiIiikes him!”

  


“Shut UP Atreus!” Calliope growled, flushing red with embarrassment. “He- He’s only a friend, father.” She rubbed her arm and looked down. She and Bragi were good friends, nothing more. He was charming and cool and understanding and patient, and..She was just some foreign mercenary girl he knew. She would never admit to liking him publicly. Not even to his face. 

  


Kratos, seeing this as a practical joke, declared that it shouldn’t be a problem, as companions traveling together was normal. It was more menacing since even a small smirk was rare coming from him. 

  


She didn’t want to hear any of it. The trip was on, no doubt. She didn’t think Bragi would say no to spending time with her yet..

  
Something about leaving them behind left a bad feeling in her stomach.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaupang was a Norse term for market-place. Today, it is generally used as a name of the first town-like market-place in Norway, the Kaupang in Skiringssal, which is located in Tjølling near Larvik in Vestfold. Kaupang was an important merchant and craft center during the Viking period and as yet the first known Norwegian trading outpost. -via wikipedia


End file.
